


I'd Rather Die

by JeanieT



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Choices, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 04:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13919871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanieT/pseuds/JeanieT
Summary: Zeus waved his hand in her direction. “I was all set to turn you into a tree again to preserve your puny life, but my prayer box pinged. You know what it said? It said every prayer from you for the past two years has been a request to never be turned back into a tree.”





	I'd Rather Die

“Get out of the way!” Thalia shouted at Percy.

“I can still help,” he said, clutching his bleeding sword arm.

“You’re going to get killed!” She feigned an attack on the minotaur’s left, then ducked under its right elbow and thrust. The blow glanced off a horn as the creature blocked with its head. “Everyone gets injured, fish boy, but not everyone has to be stupid enough to die from it!”

Thalia cried out as the minotaur’s tail connected with her ankle. She swung her arm out to regain her balance but it wasn’t enough and she toppled to the ground, trying to roll but coming up hard against a fallen log. Damn, she should have been practicing in the forest, rather than the perfect flat training ring. 

As the minotaur came at her she thrust her sword and it connected with its hip and it grunted. She tried to rise but the minotaur thrust a horn through her shoulder.  
At that moment, she knew she mustn’t scream, but in the split second eternity she could feel it building, rising like an explosion that wouldn’t be contained, and suddenly it was surrounding her, a scream that was part of her existence. She no longer had any sense of the minotaur or any goal for her movement except to lessen the pain. It went on and on.

The pain stopped suddenly, and she hiccuped in surprise. Thalia started to lift herself up, but realized she was still pinned in the shoulder by the minotaur’s horn, and couldn’t do more than lift her head. At least the pain was still gone. Which only meant one thing. 

She looked around, scowling. “Zeus?” She'd meant it to be a demand, but it came out more like a plea. The trees over her were still, unmoving, unflickering. Not one leaf twitched. The minotaur didn’t twitch either, not even in death throes. She could just see Percy, off to the side but reaching toward her, mouth wide, perfectly still. She swallowed. She’d been given a moment out of time. She cleared her throat. “Zeus!”

He materialized near the feet of the minotaur. “My beloved child,” he said, his voice patronizing as always. 

Thalia smoothed the snarl off her face. “What are you doing here?”

“I should think it was perfectly obvious what I’m doing here. I’m intervening on your behalf!”

No. Thalia’s calming heartbeat sped back up. “Intervening … how?”

Zeus waved his hand in her direction. “Saving your life, what else? I was all set to turn you into a tree again to preserve your puny life, but my prayer box pinged. You know what it said? It said every prayer from you for the past two years has been a request to never be turned back into a tree.” He folded his arms and frowned at Thalia. 

Thalia frowned right back, and cursed her pinned position. She couldn’t look very imposing from here, and posture was always half the battle with Zeus. “Yeah. Well I really hated being a tree, you know? You really need to give up that particular rescue strategy.”

Zeus raised an eyebrow. “And replace it with what, exactly?”

Thalia thought fast. For a few blinding moments all her brain could do was run around in circles crying “Not a tree! Not a tree! Not a tree!” but she bit her lip and focused. “Give me a second to think,” she said. 

“Oh, yes, take your time,” Zeus said sarcastically. “As though taking you out of time wasn’t draining my strength by the second.”

“Just to make sure we’re on the same page,” said Zeus, “I’ll just ask, are you sure, then I’ll restart time and let the minotaur kill you.”

“Hey,” said Thalia, “I’m pretty well trained. Maybe I’ll get a good strike in and pull through.”

Zeus eyed the horn protruding from her shoulder. “Your artery is punctured. There is a Fate holding scissors at your life thread this very moment.”

Shit. That sounded pretty definite. Focus. “Couldn’t you just, like, kill the minotaur for me?”

“No,” Zeus said, clearly starting to get impatient, “I wouldn’t kill the minotaur just to avenge you, but it will die anyway from your last blow. Now if you’re sure, I’ll just …”

He was ready to leave. There had to be some other way. Quickly Thalia ran through the abilities Zeus’s children possess: flying, wind control, calling lightening, super strength, being really good at chariot races … Damn damn damn. None of that would help her now. None of Zeus’s children could heal.

So there is was. Would she really rather die than be a tree again? She’d certainly thought so the past couple years. She remembered the visceral conviction she’d felt, waking from another tree nightmare, shaking and sick. While in the tree she’d been blind, senseless, trapped, helpless. For years. Gods, not again.

But death? Was she really ready to give up on camp half-blood for good? The golden fleece had saved her once, it could surely save her again. Only to make that plan work she’d have to wait, in that horrible tree prison, for someone to figure out what had happened … helpless, waiting …

“You’re right,” she said, her stomach roiling. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Zeus’s mouth quirked, and suddenly the world was spinning. Thalia forgot which way was up and the horrible familiar whirling was enough to make her throw up but she didn’t have a stomach any more. Thankfully she didn’t have a mouth either, so she couldn’t scream. She knew she couldn’t have held it back.

And then nothing. The horrible lack of function, the sense that she might tell what was going on if she could just listen hard enough, but straining only made her mind hurt. She felt tired, exhausted, except she could never, never sleep. 

Damn it Percy, you better have had your eyes open just now. If you missed the new tree that sprouted up you’ll just stand there in the clearing wondering where Thalia went, and I’ll be here for the rest of eternity, and I don’t think I can … I can’t …

Thalia felt herself starting to panic. She told herself to take deep breaths. She didn’t have lungs, but she counted imaginary breaths anyway. Slowly the fear receded. 

The fleece was still just sitting there on her old tree, that horrible old prison she’d never quite dared to chop down — Zeus took offense at things like that. It wasn’t far away, it wouldn’t take long to bring back here. Go get it Percy, she thought. Get me out of this. Please.


End file.
